Exiled runner with rare chance to shine
England-born sprinter will run for Northern Ireland at Commonwealth Games despite hatred and red tape
If Leon Reid really is the unwanted man of athletics, he is doing a fine job of not letting it affect him. “I’m chilled,” says the sprinter, brushing off the idea that his stateless position might weigh heavy on his mind. “There’s nothing I can do about it so there’s no point stressing.” Such pragmatism is admirable in a man being denied the chance to do what he loves, not because of a lack of ability but due to red tape alone.
Reid’s position is unique. In little over a week’s time he will compete for Northern Ireland at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, aiming to win his country’s first athletics medal for almost three decades. Then he will return to his international exile.
Away from the Commonwealth Games, where the home nations compete as individual nations, Reid does not have a country to represent.
Born and raised in England’s West Country, he won European 200 metres medals for Great Britain at junior and under-23 level before opting against representing the country of his birth in 2016 and seeking to run for Ireland instead. His credentials cannot be disputed – although that has not stopped some rivals attempting to do so – with his birth mother born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and his adopted mother from Wexford, Republic of Ireland.
But a major stumbling block emerged after the British and Irish athletics authorities had signed off all the paperwork. Attempting to bring a halt to the wave of predominantly African runners changing allegiance for financial reasons to countries such as Turkey, Bahrain and Qatar, the sport’s governing body announced a freeze on all international transfers.
With his application still caught up in the system, Reid, 23, became an unintended casualty. Which is why, for now, these Commonwealth Games are everything. They are Reid’s Olympics and World Championships rolled into one.
“I’d been messed around by British Athletics a few times with funding, being selected for races and them going back on their word,” explains Reid, who goes into the Games ranked 13th over 200m on last season’s times; 2015 was the year it all changed really.
“British Athletics sat me down and said what they cared about was me going to the European Under-23s and winning a medal there. I got a medal there and they said I’d be on funding the next year, but then they changed their mind.
“I felt like I couldn’t put my faith in people so me, my coach and my mum decided it was best to switch over to Ireland. It seemed like the right thing to do and, being adopted, it brings me even closer to my family. All the transfer forms were done by the end of 2016, but we didn’t hear back for ages and then they announced there’s a ban in place.”
There has been silence ever since. Personal pleas to Seb Coe, the sport’s most powerful figure, fell on deaf ears and Reid has remained in limbo.
Left feeling unwanted by the country he still lives in – his training base remains in Bath – Reid has not exactly been greeted with open arms among the athletics community in Ireland, with startling reports emerging from the Irish Indoor Championships where he won 60m and 200m gold this February.
A series of administrative errors meant he was initially unable to enter the call room for his 60m final after his semi-final time had been allocated to a rival – something he finds hard to pass off as an oversight when he had been the fastest qualifier – but it is the reception of some of his fellow athletes that has been most eye-opening.
“It could have just been a general thing and not aimed at me, but there was some spitting from one of the athletes that was awfully close to me,” says Reid.
“It sounds petty to talk about, but there’s a lot of stupid stuff like that. Someone did actually shoulder barge me when we were walking into the call room.
“There are definitely people who would rather I wasn’t there, but I am not going to race because they don’t like me.”
Is there any part of him that understands their grievances?
“I’m Northern Irish. It’s written in my mum’s birth certificate – what more do you need?” he says, matter-offactly. “The whole of my mum’s family is Irish. My gran has a thick Belfast accent, so does my grandad. If a country [Britain] where you’re living asks you to run for them aged 15, you are not going to go, ‘Let me look into my heritage.’ Of course you’re going to do it. But I’ve always gone back to Ireland for weddings and special occasions. I have hundreds of family members there.
“Maybe I need to work on my accent because it seems like the only excuse. I was born in Britain but I’ve got Irish blood. I’m Irish.”
The allegiance issue is likely to leave Reid unable to compete at this summer’s European Championships, but of more immediate importance is the forthcoming competition on the east coast of Australia.
Shorn of a country to represent for most of the year, his only other senior international appearance is one he prefers to forget at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Desperate not to miss the opportunity to make his Northern Ireland debut, Reid went into that competition with severe injuries that included a broken cheekbone and bruised ribs after a fellow athlete had accidentally collided with him at an earlier competition.
Off the back of no training – and a limited capacity to eat – for six weeks, he false-started in the 100m, but managed to make the 200m semifinals. His sights are set higher this time round.
“It’s going to be good,” he says. “The target is always the final and then targets change once those have been reached. I’ve never been in this shape before in my life.”
For the man with no nation, this is his only shot.